Pat Paxson

painting

Pat Paxson creates intriguing images that fuse contemporary experimentation with spontaneity, layering and abstraction. They build on her long-term interest in interpersonal relationships, moods, personal space, dreams and memories. The paintings tread a delicate balance between abstraction and figuration. Her process of making work is at the heart of its meaning: there is a strong connection between the spontaneity and layering of dreams and memories, and the spontaneity and layering in her work.

Informed by an on-going interest in psychology, her musical background (which heightens an awareness of harmony and melody) and meditation, Pat’s paintings mirror her diverse passions and influences.

She generates work through creating preliminary drawings – either digitally produced or by making spontaneous charcoal marks directly onto the canvas – then working into them with paint until a finished image emerges. The initiating methods connect to intuition and the unconscious; she then returns to more ‘rational’ working processes by means of a sense of rhythm and storytelling.

Pat Paxson is influenced by a wide range of artists, from the work of Matisse to the work of Francis Bacon, whose images depend on improvisation, strength of composition and complicated human issues.